THE SULLIVANS DDG 68
Ship Name and Designation History
This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.
Keel Laid July 27 1994 - Launched August 12 1995 |
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This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).
Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.
- Covers Page 1 (1994-2008)
Postmarks
This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.
A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an
image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN
THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the
existing example.
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Postmark Type |
Date From to Date To |
Thumbnail Link To Close-Up Image |
Thumbnail Link To Full Cover Image |
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Locy Type |
1997-01-24
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First Day of Postal Service, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS
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Locy Type |
1997-04-19 |
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Commissioning, cachet by Roger A. Wentworth
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Locy Type |
2000-10-05
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Ship's cachet, serviced by Wolfgang Hechler
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Locy Type |
2000-10-05
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Ship's cachet, serviced by Wolfgang Hechler
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Locy Type |
2008-06-29
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Cover serviced by Thad Kaczkowski
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Locy Type F |
2008-06-29
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100th Anniversary of the Great White Fleet. Cover serviced by Thad Kaczkowski
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USPS 4-bar |
1994-07-27
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N/A |
Keel Laying, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS
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USPS Pictorial |
1997-04-19
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Commissioning, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS
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USPS Pictorial |
1997-04-19
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Commissioning, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS
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Lautertal Germany |
2007-02-05
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N/A |
Ship's cachet, serviced by Wolfgang Hechler. Signed by the CO.
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USPS Pictorial |
2008-11-15
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N/A |
Grand Opening of the Sullivan Brothers-Iowa Veterans Museum.
Other Information
NAMESAKES - The five Sullivan brothers all hailed from Waterloo, Iowa. George Thomas (born 14 December 1914) and Francis Henry Sullivan (18 February 1916), the two oldest, enlisted in the Navy on 11 May 1937 and served in the destroyer Hovey (DD-208) into June 1941. At Des Moines, Iowa, on 3 January 1942, George and Francis—accompanied by their younger brothers Joseph Eugene (28 August 1918), Madison Abel (8 November 1919), and Albert Leo (8 July 1922) reenlisted to avenge the loss of Seaman 1st Class William V. Ball, of Fredericksburg, Iowa, a friend who had been killed in the battleship Arizona (BB-39) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. After instruction at the Naval Training School, Great Lakes, Illinois, all five brothers, at their expressed request (“We will make a team together that can’t be beat,” one had written), joined the light cruiser Juneau (CL-52) at the New York Navy Yard on 3 February 1942. Commissioned on 14 February 1942, Juneau initially served in the Atlantic but was transferred to the Pacific in August. Late in October, she took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands and, on 12 November, fought in the fierce night battle off Guadalcanal. In that action, a torpedo severely damaged the ship. The following morning, the crippled cruiser, down by the bow and struggling to make 18 knots, retired from the battle area. Handling sluggishly as she limped through the glassy-calm sea, Juneau presented a tempting target for Japanese submarine I-26 which lurked nearby. One torpedo, or possibly two, hit the damaged cruiser forward and detonated her magazines. The resulting violent explosion tore the ship apart, and she went down in just 42 seconds. Four of the Sullivans -- Coxswain Francis Sullivan and Seamen 2d Class Joseph, Madison, and Abel -- failed to make it topside in time to abandon their doomed ship. Gunner’s Mate 2d Class George Sullivan, wounded during the 12 November night action, managed to get over the side and pull himself onto a raft, but died of his wounds a few hours later. Only 10 of the approximately 140 men thought to have survived the immediate sinking were rescued. The Sullivans’ surviving sister Genevieve enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a Specialist (Recruiter) 3d Class, and, along with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Sullivan, visited over 200 shipyards and manufacturing plants to encourage the workers there. {DANFS}
The US Navy has named two ships THE SULLIVANS - USS The Sullivans DD-537 and USS The Sullivans DDG-68.
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